The Polish king assured that, being alone in Saint Kinga's bed, he saw "many infallible signs" testifying to her immaculate condition. He was encouraged to make this declaration by ... his spouse.
Faith and power were areas impossible to separate in 14th-century Poland. And the people of the Church belonged to the group of the most cunning and influential politicians. The princely (and then the royal) couple - Władysław Łokietek and his wife Jadwiga Kaliska - often had to come into conflict with representatives of religious orders, canons, abbots.
Saint Kinga in the painting by Jan Matejko
A particularly peculiar dispute concerned Princess Kinga:the former ruler of Kraków, ruling in the second half of the 13th century. Duchess Jadwiga was her niece and in her youth she had the opportunity to get to know well the respectable, though now widowed and retired, relative. Also Łokietek had a relatively close relationship with the old duchess.
Kinga died in 1292 in the opinion of an extremely pious woman, a great ascetic, even a saint. However, not everyone agreed with this image of her.
Ferdynand Olesiński - Saint Kinga
A rumor that shook the Polish Church
Duchess Jadwiga believed in her aunt's godliness to such an extent that she even prayed to her. She was convinced that it was the intercession of her deceased relative that helped her recover from a serious illness. Reluctant Kinga, the Franciscans sold a diametrically different image of her. They claimed that the monarch was a two-faced, immoral woman. Above all:that she had a long affair with her trusted confessor, Boguchwało.
The rumor weighed not only on the figure of the long-deceased princess, but also on her successor. After all, Jadwiga bore the same title, she was also considered a handmaid to the Lord, and finally - she and Kinga had blood ties. She couldn't allow herself to be slandered by someone so close to her. After all, allowing such monsters to do so could cause people to say incredible things about herself after many years ...
Lots of infallible characters
There was a kind of moral inquiry. Not even Jadwiga, but her husband, Prince Władysław Łokietek, appeared as the crown witness. The ruler made a solemn assurance that the condition of Princess Kinga was flawless. And he knew this because ... he had been alone with her many times in the bedroom, and had had occasion to make sure "by many unmistakable signs that she was a virgin."
What specific signs were they talking about? It is not known, but probably in the 14th century a similar line of command of chastity did not shock anyone. Jadwiga certainly liked Łokietek's arguments. The spouses jointly made efforts to include them in the prepared - who knows, or not inspired by them - life of Kinga. As a result, Łokietek's visits to the holy bedroom have gone down in history ...
Selected bibliography:
The article was based on materials collected by the author during the work on the book "Ladies of the Polish Empire. The Women Who Built a Power " . Some of these items are shown below. Full bibliography in the book.
- Kowalska B., Saint Kinga. Reality and legend , Avalon, Krakow 2008.
- Ożóg K., Jadwiga [in:] The Piasts. Biographical Lexicon , edited by K. Ożóg, S. Szczur, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Krakow 1999.
- Śliwiński J., The marriages of Casimir the Great. A study in the field of morality and ethics of the royal court in Poland in the 14th century , Pedagogical University in Olsztyn, Olsztyn 1987.